FanPost

Of Garretts and Gilkeys: Top 50 Comparisons

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

We are now about one third of the way through the Top 50 Mets, and most of the players highlighted so far belong to one of two categories: Garretts or Gilkeys. A Garrett is a guy who has a lot of 1-2 WAR seasons with maybe a 3-4 WAR season for his career year. He makes the list and the typical comment is, "this guy's a 1-2 WAR player, and he's on the list? LOLMets." A Gilkey, on the other hand, is a guy who gets traded to the Mets and immediately makes a big splash, say a 5-6 WAR season. Then he falls off a cliff, and the reaction is, "one season, and he's on the list? LOLMets."

In the early days of this feature, Alex Nelson provided a comparison of every team's top (for example) number 49 player. But is it a fair comparison with teams that have played over twice as many seasons, not to mention teams even younger than the Mets? So I decided to compare the top 50 Mets by bWAR with the three franchises which began in either 1961 or '62 -- the Houston Colt 45s Astros, the Washington Senators Part Deux Texas Rangers, and the Los Angeles California Anaheim Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. And for the lulz a control group, I also looked at the Philadelphia Phillies, a franchise that has been in the National League since 1883 (and has lost more games than any other team).

Here are the top 50 players for each team by bWAR. (Spoiler Alert!) For those of you waiting for the Mets countdown to end, you may wish to avert your eyes. (It's not exactly the same; I think the countdown is using fWAR. Also, a certain knuckleballer made a big move up the ladder last year.)



Mets




1
Tom Seaver 75.9
2
Dwight Gooden 41.6
3
David Wright 40.8
4
Jerry Koosman 39.5
5
Darryl Strawberry 36.5
6
Carlos Beltran 31.1
7
Edgardo Alfonzo 29.5
8
Al Leiter 28.0
9
Jose Reyes 27.7
10
Sid Fernandez 27.6
11
Keith Hernandez 26.5
12
Jon Matlack 26.5
13
Mike Piazza 24.3
14
Howard Johnson 21.9
15
Mookie Wilson 20.7
16
David Cone 19.5
17
John Stearns 19.4
18
Bud Harrelson 18.6
19
Cleon Jones 18.2
20
John Olerud 17.2
21
Lenny Dykstra 16.5
22
Rick Reed 16.5
23
Ron Darling 16.2
24
Kevin McReynolds 15.7
25
Jerry Grote 15.6
26
Tom Glavine 15.3
27
Johan Santana 15.2
28
Tommie Agee 14.0
29
Dave Magadan 14.0
30
Wayne Garrett 13.9
31
R.A. Dickey 12.9
32
Tug McGraw 12.9
33
Craig Swan 12.9
34
Lee Mazzilli 12.3
35
Jesse Orosco 12.2
36
Bret Saberhagen 11.7
37
Steve Trachsel 11.7
38
Wally Backman 11.6
39
Gary Carter 11.3
40
John Franco 11.1
41
Robin Ventura 10.9
42
Angel Pagan 10.8
43
Bernard Gilkey 10.2
44
Bobby J. Jones 10.0
45
John Milner 9.9
46
Armando Benitez 9.8
47
Frank Viola 9.7
48
Bob Ojeda 9.6
49
Steve Henderson 9.2
50
Hundley/Youngblood 9.2



Astros




1
Jeff Bagwell 79.5
2
Craig Biggio 64.9
3
Jose Cruz 51.2
4
Cesar Cedeno 49.4
5
Lance Berkman 48.1
6
Roy Oswalt 45.6
7
Jim Wynn 41.5
8
Larry Dierker 34.4
9
Joe Morgan 30.6
10
Bill Doran 30.3
11
Terry Puhl 28.5
12
Don Wilson 27.7
13
Nolan Ryan 25.4
14
Mike Scott 24.7
15
Bob Watson 23.4
16
Joe Niekro 23.1
17
J.R. Richard 21.6
18
Shane Reynolds 19.2
19
Ken Forsch 19.0
20
Glenn Davis 18.8
21
Doug Rader 18.2
22
Richard Hidalgo 17.5
23
Roger Clemens 16.8
24
Kevin Bass 16.6
25
Turk Farrell 16.6
26
Ken Caminiti 16.5
27
Billy Wagner 16.2
28
Hunter Pence 16.1
29
Steve Finley 16.0
30
Dickie Thon 16.0
31
Luis Gonzalez 15.0
32
Wade Miller 14.4
33
Morgan Ensberg 14.1
34
Denny Walling 14.1
35
Mike Hampton 14.0
36
Art Howe 13.8
37
Rusty Staub 13.6
38
Mike Cuellar 13.2
39
Wandy Rodriguez 12.9
40
Dave Smith 12.6
41
Danny Darwin 12.4
42
Adam Everett 12.4
43
Phil Garner 12.3
44
Michael Bourn 12.2
45
Jim Deshaies 12.2
46
Moises Alou 11.7
47
Derek Bell 11.3
48
Octavio Dotel 11.1
49
Denny Lemaster 11.1
50
Bob Bruce 10.9



Rangers




1
Ivan Rodriguez 49.9
2
Rafael Palmeiro 44.4
3
Buddy Bell 36.1
4
Jim Sundberg 34.6
5
Charlie Hough 32.9
6
Toby Harrah 32.2
7
Juan Gonzalez 31.8
8
Kenny Rogers 31.7
9
Ian Kinsler 29.8
10
Frank Howard 26.6
11
Alex Rodriguez 25.6
12
Michael Young 25.4
13
Rusty Greer 22.3
14
Josh Hamilton 22.1
15
Ferguson Jenkins 21.9
16
Mark Teixeira 21.5
17
Ken McMullen 21.2
18
Julio Franco 20.2
19
Ruben Sierra 20.2
20
Pete O'Brien 18.2
21
Kevin Brown 17.8
22
Mike Hargrove 17.1
23
Gaylord Perry 15.6
24
Bump Wills 15.5
25
Nolan Ryan 15.3
26
Will Clark 15.1
27
Rick Helling 14.0
28
Jose Guzman 13.9
29
Hank Blalock 13.4
30
Elvis Andrus 12.8
31
Adrian Beltre 12.7
32
Scott Fletcher 12.4
33
Jon Matlack 12.4
34
Al Oliver 11.5
35
Bert Blyleven 11.1
36
Steve Buechele 11.1
37
Dick Bosman 11.0
38
C.J. Wilson 10.9
39
David Murphy 10.8
40
Danny Darwin 10.6
41
Jeff Russell 10.6
42
Roger Pavlik 10.5
43
Don Lock 10.4
44
Gary Matthews 10.2
45
Mark McLemore 10.2
46
Ed Brinkman 10.1
47
Francisco Cordero 9.7
48
Nelson Cruz 9.6
49
Matt Harrison 9.5
50
Hinton/Knowles 9.5



Angels




1
Chuck Finley 52.3
2
Jim Fregosi 45.9
3
Tim Salmon 40.6
4
Nolan Ryan 40.1
5
Brian Downing 37.8
6
Bobby Grich 35.0
7
Frank Tanana 34.4
8
Darin Erstad 32.7
9
Jered Weaver 29.7
10
Garret Anderson 28.1
11
Mark Langston 26.2
12
John Lackey 25.0
13
Vladimir Guerrero 22.8
14
Troy Glaus 22.6
15
Chone Figgins 22.3
16
Mike Witt 22.0
17
Torii Hunter 21.1
18
Dean Chance 20.4
19
Jim Edmonds 20.4
20
Jarrod Washburn 20.4
21
Wally Joyner 18.9
22
Doug DeCinces 18.8
23
Howie Kendrick 18.8
24
Adam Kennedy 18.4
25
Rod Carew 17.3
26
Troy Percival 16.9
27
Dick Schofield, Jr. 16.3
28
Francisco Rodriguez 16.0
29
Erick Aybar 15.9
30
Devon White 15.3
31
Andy Messersmith 14.7
32
Kirk McCaskill 14.6
33
Jim Abbott 14.3
34
Kelvim Escobar 14.3
35
Bobby Knoop 13.2
36
Gary Pettis 13.2
37
David Eckstein 13.1
38
Albie Pearson 13.1
39
Ervin Santana 12.8
40
Chili Davis 12.4
41
Scot Shields 12.4
42
Maicer Izturis 12.3
43
George Brunet 12.2
44
Bob Boone 12.1
45
Mike Trout 11.6
46
Clyde Wright 11.5
47
Gary DiSarcina 11.1
48
Mike Napoli 10.9
49
Rick Reichardt 10.9
50
Geoff Zahn 10.6

Phillies

1
Mike Schmidt 106.5
2
Robin Roberts 69.7
3
Steve Carlton 64.5
4
Ed Delahanty 60.8
5
Pete Alexander 60.2
6
Richie Ashburn 57.2
7
Chase Utley 54.7
8
Sherry Magee 47.9
9
Bobby Abreu 47.0
10
Jimmy Rollins 41.8
11
Johnny Callison 39.5
12
Curt Schilling 36.8
13
Roy Thomas 36.5
14
Billy Hamilton 36.3
15
Dick Allen 35.5
16
Chuck Klein 34.9
17
Del Ennis 33.7
18
Chris Short 32.2
19
Jim Bunning 31.3
20
Gavvy Cravath 31.1
21
Sam Thompson 30.7
22
Cy Williams 30.3
23
Cole Hamels 29.2
24
Scott Rolen 29.2
25
Jack Clements 28.9
26
Garry Maddox 28.9
27
Charlie Buffinton 27.2
28
Von Hayes 27.0
29
John Titus 25.9
30
Lenny Dykstra 25.6
31
Charlie Ferguson 25.5
32
Tony Gonzalez 24.4
33
Willie Jones 24.3
34
Curt Simmons 24.2
35
Tully Sparks 23.9
36
Al Orth 23.4
37
Shane Victorino 23.4
38
Darren Daulton 22.3
39
Dan Casey 22.0
40
Elmer Flick 21.6
41
Larry Bowa 21.4
42
Fred Luderus 19.8
43
Granny Hamner 19.2
44
Greg Luzinski 19.1
45
Kid Gleason 18.7
46
John Kruk 18.4
47
Ryan Howard 18.3
48
George McQuillan 18.3
49
Roy Halladay 18.1
50
Lajoie/Taylor 17.6

Here is a comparison of the top 50 cumulative bWAR for each team:

Phillies 1,664.9
Astros 1,128.7
Angels 1,023.7
Mets 963.8
Rangers 933.9

And here is a ranking of each of each position as ranked on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis:

Phillies 250.0
Astros 184.5
Angels 155.5
Mets 84.0
Rangers 76.0

Some takeaways from the study:

  • The Phillies' dominance would seem to be mainly based on an 80 year head start. By my quick look at their top 50 list, about 27 played for Philadelphia before 1962.
  • To show the other extreme, while I didn't include them in the study, a look at B-R indicates that a career WAR of 1 will get you on the top 50 Diamondbacks or Rays list.
  • Check out the number 2 and 4 ranked Angels. You now have permission to leave the room and become sick.
  • All of the first four expansion teams have top 50 threshold low enough for a player to move up the ranks quickly. Mike Trout is already on the Angels' list after barely one season. In even less time, Matt Harvey is already among the top 50 Mets pitchers (although not yet overall).
  • In comparing the first four expansion teams, the Mets rank a distant third. On the other hand, they have won two World Series and four pennants. The Astros, Angels and Rangers have combined for one one WS and four pennants. Personally, I will take that deal anytime.

This FanPost was contributed by a member of the community and was not subject to any vetting or approval process.

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